Mama Ant's sons are dating?!?

[Bladefire]

Hello everyone! I've been lurking for a few years now, don't know why I never signed up, but here I am! This is my first post, so please be gentle. ;)

It appears that Mama Ant from Where the Creek Meets the Land (antsonafarm.blogspot), had a few visitors. Her two oldest boys brought over some friends, who happen to be girls. hmmmm, looks like dating to me. Why would two boys from a family all for really creepy courtships and betrothals be allowed to hang out with girls? Seems odd to me.

[browngrl]

Welcome to posting on FJ!

Those boys and girls are standing awfully close to each other in the pictures - surely someone is getting defrauded. I kind of have a soft spot for Mama Ant - after that whole mess about her daughter's birthing experience so I am kind of hoping that Mama Ant et al is becoming more "lite" than "fundie".

Edited because I can't write English "too good" tonight (might have missed some typos as well)

[PBrooke]

I really wish MamaAnt had hung around a bit longer, because I am so curious about how they wound up in these circles in the first place. They've always seemed sort of on the fringes of the inner circle, in terms of zealousness, you know, and maybe more curious about it than anything (I've seen them do both VF and ATI conferences, too). I've always been convinced that the whole "bride price" and betrothal thing that was due to pressure from Cap'n Bret - and the shiny, happy examples of the S'Mortons, too (I always get that vibe from Papa Smith on the videos - while the Mortons lure me in with their Little House-personas, Smith seems like he wants to preach fire and brimstone and sell me a car, all at the same time). They (MamaAnt and Co) seem like they want to do what's best for their kids, and I think they just got carried away. Maybe the boys were old enough when this whole thing started that they didn't want to go along for the ride. Maybe Bb really did choose the path of courtship for herself. If it weren't for Bb's betrothal, and the company they occasionally keep, I would call them fundie-lite at best, simply because MamaAnt seems so non-simpering and reasonable.

And what I'm REALLY curious about is what's going to happen with their next daughter, who just graduated high school-homeschooling. She seems a bit younger than Bb to me, though, not slow, just like she still has a lot of growing up to do, so I hope she doesn't rush into anything permanent (but she's at a prime age for a little dating!).

[Bladefire]

Yes, I wish she had hung out here a little longer as well. She seemed to insinuate that her thoughts on courtship had changed, probably due to the birth fiasco. If I recall correctly, a few years ago one of her older sons was courting, I think it was talked about on her blog or her daughter's blog. I wonder what happened with that? I wonder if the Ants are going to let their children date now that they have been burned by courtship a few times?